A moving tribute to Newtown at Bridgewater State

In an awe-inspiring candlelit vigil Tuesday night, Bridgewater State students - about 500 of them - pushed finals aside and gathered to sing, mourn and remember the victims of the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre.

By Amy Carboneau

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

By Amy Carboneau

Posted Dec. 19, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Dec 19, 2012 at 7:13 PM

By Amy Carboneau

Posted Dec. 19, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Dec 19, 2012 at 7:13 PM

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Students streamed across campus from all directions. Some carried with them oversized teddy bears to donate. Dozens of others placed handwritten notes and cards inside a small wicker basket, each letter meant to console the grieving Connecticut community that continues to mourn the loss of 20 schoolchildren and six adults after Friday’s massacre.

Bridgewater State students – about 500 of them – in a moving candlelit vigil Tuesday night joined in that grief.

They pushed finals aside, gathering instead to sing, mourn and remember the victims from Sandy Hook elementary school with song, poetry and prayer.

They gathered to say: “Newtown, we are here for you.”

That’s how Diego Galvis put it. Galvis, a student contributor, took the stage to read the first names of the 20 first-graders gunned down Friday.

“May your smiles burn the skies every night, and may your souls rest in peace,” he added.

Throughout the vigil, a few quietly dotted tears from their cheeks.

Others sat inside Horace Mann Auditorium in stunned silence, listening to the lyrics of “Hallelujah” close the ceremony, as the ballad’s final notes echoed into silence amid a standing-room-only auditorium.

The vigil was the first of its kind in the region.

Afterward, the crowd moved outdoors to light candles, read the names of each victim, sing “Silent Night” and hold a long moment of silence, before many headed back to the auditorium to discuss the tragic event.

Organizer of the event Chelsey Ayers, a Connecticut native, grew up, she told the audience, in a town similar to Newtown.

It was a town, she said, “where we were always blessed to feel safe.”

A town where neighbors left their doors unlocked, she said.

“And parents weren’t scared to send their kids to school because, why would they be?”

Ayers put word out about the vigil on Facebook just two nights ago. Word spread entirely through social media and left event organizers speechless by the number of people who gathered.

“It was so amazing to see how quickly the community came together,” said 20-year-old Taunton resident Gabriella Diniz. “I’m breathless.”

In a university known for decades as a teaching school, the event hit close to home for many.

“We just want them to know they’re not alone,” said Jennifer Haugen, 19, of Mansfield.

Haugen is a future elementary school teacher who recently started a part-time position as a teacher’s aide at Brockton’s Huntington Elementary School.

She wants to be half as good a teacher as the teachers at Sandy Hook proved themselves to be, she said.